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Copper Polyamide molds made in the selective laser sintering (SLS) process from 3D Systems, formerly a DTM Corp. product, offer
a step up in soft tooling over Direct AIM. Harder, more thermally conductive materials mean that it's possible to run an injection
molding machine closer to final mold conditions. Thus, there will still be differences between parts made with Copper Polyamide
and tool steel molds, but not as great as with epoxy tools. The process uses copper powder coated with nylon polymer which is
fused by the laser in the process. It isn't necessary to burn out the polymer and infiltrate the part, however, allowing molds to
sometimes be finished within a day. DTM claims that it's possible to make several hundred parts in a variety of polymers from the
molds.
EOS GmbH also offers a similar selective laser sintering process called Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) based on a bronze
alloy. While the resultant mold core and cavity inserts don't require burn out after sintering, they are porous. It may be
necessary to infiltrate them with epoxy or low melting temperature metal prior to use. Several thousand relatively simple parts
have been produced from DMLS molds.
In addition to limited life, soft metal tools generally can't reproduce fine detail and must be finished before use.
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